Ball-bearing.



- iran .etarras PATENT.' oesters.

OLIVER C. KNIPE, OF PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA.

BALL-BE ARING.

Lisanne.

speeiaeanon of Letters raient.

iratented Apr. e, 1915.

Application ined october 31, 1912. serial No. 128,861.'

Tozzi? whom it may concern Be it known that I, @Livra C. KNIFE, a citizen of the United States and resident of Palo Alto, in the county ot Santa Clara and State of California, have invented new and useful lmprovenielts in Ball-Bearings, of

' which the followii g is a specitication.

This invention relates to ball bearings and comprises an improved construction by vwhich `the balls may be maintained uniiormly spaced to equally distribute the thrust and maintain lateral or end pressure f amount of Wear and the looseness of its lit,

so that after a'periodv of hard service the wear. on the soft edges of the spacer-ring permits it to tilt relatively to the shaft and become deformed by engaging the walls of the raceway. In my construction the spacci' is at all times held truly concentric with the central axis of the bearing .and is guidtwlin thatrelation by bearing against an annular Wall of the raceway, therefore it receives uniform wear by the rubbing action of the balls against its prongs or tines and there is no possibility of tilting for deformation; moreover the spacer by being connected to and embracing loosely the two members which provide the ball-race constitutes an interlocking device which makes a single unit for purposes of handling the several elements of the ball bearing, thus Facilitating shipment and mounting vl attain these desirable results by providing the spacer with circular edges which engage by an easy i fit circular walls of the. raeeway. i e

My invention thereforeconiprises a ball bearihg having a raceway for the balls, and a floating spacer engaging the -sei'eralballs to hold them mutually 'equidistant7 arida conffentric'guidc to hold it in uniform relation to the sha t't or axis of rotation. y

It comprises. moreover-,Ya balli'spa'cer interlocking with the two member 'fhi'ch form the raceway. as the ball 'cupe` daeone or other cooperating member. f

The several features of novelty'wil'l be hereinafterinore fully described and will be definitely pointed out inthe claims.

"In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention Figures 1 and 2 show. in broken side elevation and plan, respectively, a form of thrust bearing embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a central section of the form shown in Figs. l and 2. Fig. 4 is a modiiication adapted either for end-thrust or Weight, the device being shown in median central section. Fig. 5 illustrates the inode of assembling the form shown in Fig. 4. lfigs. 6 and 7 are -detail views illustrating the spacer-ring of Fig. l and 2 l Referring first to Figsl to 3. are stampings of sheet steel adapted to form .a raceway for a series of'ba'lls, being cupped to ahnst entirel f inelose'lthe balls. leavinv i C only a narrow space between-their confronting edges so that when mounted with the lower cup bearing on a fixed base and the upper one secured tothe shaft, the entire weight will be supported on` the balls. The

balls are spaced uniformly'by a steel spacer 3 haring tines' l which extend into the raceway to a point about eren with the center of the balls. The spacer may be formed from ashort ring ot .steel punched or slitted With a pluralityot` equidistant cuts so as to `form aplurality of teethV el, 5 the alternate leaves of which 'are flanged 'outwardat an angle as seen in Figs. l and 3 to interleave with the balls. The ball bearing is assembled by placing the parts on a support in apress or Hanging tool, introducing the desired number ont' balls, and-placing the spacerri-ng in position with its alternate ytines between the. balls.. A pair' ot' iiangiig dies ortfhedies of the press are thenbrought together to simultaneously curl the tines over the upper ball cup4 and to expand the uncut part of" tte' spacer so as to loosely embrace the inner*y il .c of. the lower cup. The thrust bearing is thus completed. The flaring tools are ad-` justed so that the curved edges of the spacer do not torni a tight fit'but are separated from the wallsfof/the cups by a slight clear,- ance. just enough to permit freedom of motion. The-steel cups are ot course hardened and polished before assembly.

ln the form shown in Figs. 4` to 7 the The'cup infin-med into a ball receptacle and parte ot the raceway are made of tool steel. i

Aihe cone T provided with a shoulder. The v flloating spacervls a split `ring of sheet steel providedyvith a: right angled ange 10 and yan angular ilange l1, eachindented to form a plurality of tines; the indentations give the ringmore elasticity and permitt to be expanded in assembling the parts.

The manner of assembly will be clear The cup is raised and the balls .fed into place. The elastic spacer-is placed on topof the cone and a plunger is applied to snap the spacerinto place under the rib 8. The cone and cup are thereby interlocked by the spacer and the inner face of the latter is free to turn by an easy it on the shoulder 8. The'tines ll interlock with the balls, keeping them uniformly spaced. This form ofbearing, as will be evident, may be used to take Ieither Weight or end-thrust, and may be used in all cases Where the end-thrust is not very severe. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters-Patent is: A

l. A ball bearing comprising two members each having a circular track for balls7 a floating ballspacer having angular tongues separating the balls from onean-- other and other tongues locking the two members together, and a. series of bei tween the-'two members. n

2,. A ball bearin'gjcomprising two members both having a Circular track for balls,

lap one of the members and act to lock the members together. l

3. A ball bearing comprising an inner and an outer member both flanged at each side,

the vinner member adapted to pass Vthrough the outer member, a ball-spacer consisting of a split ring adapted to be contracted to f enter one of thesaid flanges and having at its sides integral angular tongues, one set of tongues separating the several balls Jfrom.

each other and the other set of tongues overlapping the flange of a member to lock the members together. I

l OLIVER o. Witnesses: I

S. C. HILL, Ronr. H. READ. 

